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Last week I sat in a panel on a seminar organized by the Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER) on Asian economies in the midst of the new global environment. Together with research economists from Japan, India, Indonesia and Thailand, we tackled how the Trump Effect and the rise of new nationalism will affect Asia and our individual economies. We have

Lack of quorum in the House of Representatives is reported to be snagging the effort of administration supporters in Congress to restore the death penalty. The 1987 Philippine Constitution rules against the death penalty, but gives Congress the authority to impose it “for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes.” In the wake of rising criminality,

There is much to be pleased about in our economic performance in recent years, including the one just past. But as my title suggests, there’s as much to be worried about as well. Our situation sums up thus: Yes, we’ve come a long way and done quite well, but sadly still not quite well enough to even just narrow the gap with our neighbors.

“Build, Build, Build” is a new development mantra signifying the largest infrastructure push in Philippine history to propel economic growth in the next five to six years. Among the key investments that the Philippine government will make are big-ticket infrastructure projects, specifically roads and bridges, mass

The current leadership of the country came into power on the promise of real change, and apparently wide expectation that it could deliver on that. After seven months, it has become all too obvious that it was never going to be easy.

It now appears that the main idea was to bring about change through the barrel of a gun, by striking fear

The one thing that Wikipedia has to say about Valentine’s Day in the Philippine setting is: “It is usually marked by a steep increase in the price of flowers, particularly red roses.” And we all know how true that is. The shoot-up in price has nothing to do with rising costs of production; it’s all about demand. The phenomenon of Valentine’s Day prices

Along with Mexico, the Philippines is one of the top migrant origin in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec). Furthermore, the country receives the highest remittance inflow in the region. Because of these reasons, the Philippines is considered a global model in managing international labor mobility. While this perception may have its merits,

Why is it that we have a lower tax effort (tax revenues in proportion to gross domestic product) than most of our neighbors, and yet have higher tax rates than they do? Consider the following: In 2014, Philippine government revenues as a percent of GDP was 15.1 percent. The corresponding percentage was 19.9 for Malaysia, 18.5 for Singapore, 19.7 for

President Duterte’s pivot to China may have been prophetic. At the rate things are going, one is easily led to think that America is doing the wrong things while China is doing things right, and that a reversal of global roles for the two may be in the offing. Many see America to be wittingly or unwittingly yielding economic and political domination in

I was among dozens of economists and lawyers the other night on the occasion of the first anniversary celebration of the Philippine Competition Commission, a very new—and I must say very critical—institution in the Philippine government. Here is one institution that combines the best of the two professions I’ve been describing as the ones people like to